Sunday, 30 October 2016

This year has been a key year in our
history with the change of trading name to Cycling UK and at a time when
cycling is getting more and more popular. The name change has been contentious
with everyone holding strongly held opinions one way or another. The change has meant that we can hold onto our traditional logos and
names where we prefer with the new name being used to help
brand communications and reach out to government, to our partners and to the public. Some
groups have held on to their names and some have changed and some have done a
bit of both. Of course a new brand takes some time to bed in but we have had a
very positive response in the main and I feel we are starting to see the effect in some great
work for the groups, campaigners and projects.

Many groups continue to thrive and grow, whilst others remain strong and
stable in the face of increasing competition from other cycling groups and we have seen more diverse member club activity and types of riding. Again
this is our general experience and I know in particular one of my groups has
seen a decline.

We’ve provided ride leader training to all to assist in bringing more
resource to groups and we are looking changes to the Policy Handbook to make it
easier for groups to join Cycling UK. We’re developing and revising all our
other policies and guidance to make them simpler to understand and easier to access,
alongside the groups’ promotional area of the website, which should include a
listing of all informal groups in the future.

Here are some of our headlines:

Membership

·Gift
Aid now eligible on memberships

·Monthly
direct debit now live- join for just £3.59 pm

·New
membership marketing materials available for groups

·We
have seen a slight decline in our numbers this year however we have recently taken the decision to invest more money into Matt Malinder’s team and we will be hoping to see that bear its fruits over the next few months. We have just commissioned and had report a review
of volunteering and I may be able to share more of that soon, however, it
really was exciting to see the possibilities we have that we currently do not
take advantage of.

Groups

·Over
groups 1,000 ride leaders trained in last 12 months

·Review
of the insurance guidance policy handbook to look to extend the number of rides
a non-member can go on to encourage eventual sign up

·Successful
Tri-vets series on which we are looking to build other events series –
Challenge rides, Belles on Bikes women’s initiatives in 2017 and 2018

Communications

·Built
a new highly enthused and active professional communications team, which has
enabled us to raise the profile of our charity in the media and to the cycling
public.

·Significantly
improved on our ability to measure, monitor and report on the impact of our
charity’s work.

Policy

·Gathered
intelligence through Vote Bike helping us to identify candidates’ views on
cycling as they stood for Welsh Assembly and Police and Crime Commissioner elections,
with the help of over 5,000 emails.

·Persuaded
London Mayor Sadiq Khan to adopt our proposed policy to phase out unsafe
lorries on London’s roads, and convinced HS2 Ltd to call on bidders for HS2
construction work to show their commitment to safe lorries.

·Convinced
the Ministry of Justice to review road traffic offences and sentences, and
particularly the distinction between “careless” and “dangerous” driving.

Campaigns

·Helped
Eurostar to change its mind on cycle carriage, so that you don’t have to break
down and box-up your bike for travel, through over 10,000 emails, and lots of
national press coverage (including top trending story on BBC online).

·Obtained
10,000 responses to our survey of off-road cyclists’ experiences, and mobilised
clear public support (over 4,000 responses to the consultation) for the Welsh
Government’s plans for increased countryside access.

·Transport
Scotland agreed to pilot Big Bike Revival in 2016. We had an amazing launch in
Stirling attended by Humza Yousaf, Scottish Government Minister for Transport
and our celebrity ambassador, Michelle McManus, who has been inspired by the
campaign so much she has purchased and started to use a second hand bike around
Glasgow

·Our
Cycling Development staff team reached a peak of 27 people in 2016 focused on
delivering The Big Bike Revival and developing our network of Community Cycle
Clubs across England and Scotland. Reaching 50,000+ beneficiaries and
many of them from within deprived communities.

·We
have gained an additional 3 awards this year for The Big Bike Revival to add to
the list:

oChartered Institute of Marketing – Best Third Sector Campaign

oNorthern Digital Marketing Award – Best Public Sector Campaign

oSmarter Travel Award – Best Marketing Campaign

oGuardian Sustainable Business Awards – Runner Up

oCycle Planning Awards – Best Behaviour Change Campaign

Operations

·We
are investing in our IT team and associated infrastructure to improve our web
presence so that members, prospective members and beneficiaries are informed
and inspired by Cycling UK to enjoy cycling

·We
have explored how we support our volunteers and created a new strategy to
improve the way we recruit, train, develop and encourage volunteering to
increase the impact of our charity and make volunteering with us more
convenient and fun

Governance

·We
have reviewed the governance structure and processes and the changes are in the
process of being implemented. We have made moves to strengthen the operation of
the board and to create a greater focus on the role of the Trustee. These
changes should mean the board is better equipped to lead the direction and
good running of the organisation and for the Trustees to hold the executive to
account. One of those changes is the move to elected Trustees on a skills and
experience based approach. With the
growing capability to support member groups from national office we no longer
require a regional representation role. I will however continue to attend East
Midlands meetings where I can, firstly because I value those of you I work
closely with and I appreciate knowing about what is happening in my area,
albeit that is sometimes a bit of a challenge.